It was summer vacation, most were preparing to travel, others were looking for summer schools to dive a little deeper into their education, a few were looking for summer jobs, all usual teenage stuff. Jihyo had enrolled into a few extra classes but would be mainly spending his days working at the shelter, Tzuyu was going to be there too, but the tallest boy would be there for an official summer internship. Chaeyoung was going to travel with the Minatozakis and then would take Sana to his grandparents’ Jeju home, Seungwan was doing the same with the Baes. Sooyoung was busy with student council and planning the next semester for the football team, and Seulgi was helping as the vice-captain, Yerim had summer classes to try and raise his grades, so no vacation there.

Jeongyeon was part-timing at a bakery and taking a few classes as well, just so he could kill time while Tzuyu was at the shelter, and they had a camping trip scheduled to happen at some point. Mina and Nayeon had flown to Japan the night their classes ended, something about a huge family tradition both boys had to go through, it would have Nayeon leaving a desperate sounding text on their general group-chat saying he might be marrying Mina, if the broken japanese Nayeon managed to learn so far told him anything. Good times with the mafia, that is totally not the mafia and Mina will not have anyone saying it is.

Jihyo still hadn’t reached out to his boyfriend, were they even still dating? And Dahyun honestly wasn’t that motivated to make the first move, especially not with Seungwan and Joohyun looking over his shoulders like hawks and making sure he would not even consider making the first move. But it’s not like the former fighter had noticed it that much, sure he would remember Dahyun on cold nights when he remembered how they would usually cuddle. But the Baes decided to take a trip to Thailand, and they would land back in Jeju to drop the boys then only mr and mrs Bae would return to Seoul until summer break was just about to end.

Dahyun was glad, however, he could tune out Jihyo, and just have fun, be the little brother and let himself be pampered. Seungwan and Joohyun loved him dearly, and both had been nothing but the best support system ever, they would bake together, go work out together, study together, they made Dahyun the almost third person in their relationship, except from the intimate parts, the little brother was included. And it was great, the younger Bae got out of his slump, he got a few great paintings done, even got back to sculpting, and started looking better as time went by.

Dahyun was out to have a lot of fun, Jihyo heard about it from his mother, who made a comment to his father over dinner on how she would have less free time for a week because the Sons would be travelling and she would have to cover for mr Son because nobody else seemed to be able to harmonize wines as well as he did. Their conversation went on and, at some point, the information that Dahyun would be away all summer was thrown and Jihyo should have felt worse than he did at that moment. He thought it was a pity that he couldn’t see the pale boy, but then thought he could just call Daniel if he needed someone to hang out with, big mistake I know.

In Thailand, the boys met up with Lisa, she was also an art prodigy, she danced really well and sang like an angel, but her strong suit was photography, the girl had an eye to translate the scenery to a still image that very few rivaled. Dahyun had met her in a contest, he entered a painting and she entered a picture both tied in the end and the boy, very gentlemanly, stepped down to second and has been friends with Lisa ever since then. The girl was extremely excited when she heard about the trip, the artists talked often and the moment Lisa said she would be going home for summer, Dahyun told her he was visiting with his family and she demanded to guide them around and wasn’t taking ‘no’ for an answer.

Mama and Papa Bae immediately agreed when they heard the news, who better to take them around for a great time and uncover the local secrets than a local, after all. Lisa’s dad had prepared a table for them in his restaurant for the night they arrived (they got there in the morning and slept through the afternoon), Lisa’s mother was there as well and all the adults managed to get along really well. Joohyun met Lisa at the art club, in one of the times he had to go and drag his little brother home, mainly because the girl was rarely there, and Seungwan just charmed everyone who ever met him.

The next day was spent walking around downtown, Lisa guiding them to the hidden gems around, they would spend one more day in town before Lisa’s parents managed to get off work and then everyone would hop on a van and travel around the country. It was fun, Joohyun and Seungwan started prodding Dahyun about trying with Lisa, mr and mrs Bae also tried to figure out if their youngest was open to the possibility. Dahyun liked Lisa a lot, the girl had always been good to him and he tried his best to be the best he could be for her too, they were great friends and he believed he should always treat the ones dear to him as best as he could.

Jihyo, all the way back in Korea, occupied most of his time, and when he was free, he had been talking to Kang Daniel, Tzuyu stopped talking to him completely when he found out, all the other boys were busy with whatever else, so what was the problem with making a new friend? They did get very well acquainted, and it’s not like Jihyo was doing anything wrong, was it? Regardless, around the third day Dahyun had been in Thailand, Jihyo got a call from him, it had been weeks since they last talked and the pale boy reaching out was completely unexpected.

“Hello?” Jihyo answers hesitantly.

“Jihyo.” Dahyun’s tone is cold but calm.

“It’s been a while.” The older boy chuckles uneasy.

“I’ll be brief.” The younger Bae cuts in. “I believe we should end our relationship, well, officially end it. This hasn’t been working and we both can’t keep on like this. I can’t keep waiting and you clearly don’t want this anymore, so let’s just go our separate ways.”

“Alright.” That’s all Jihyo can manage.

“I can’t really keep being your friend right now, but I’m sure we’ll manage at some point.”

“Okay.” Jihyo’s voice is the smallest it has ever been.

“Good talking to you. Have a nice summer, Jihyo.” And Dahyun hangs up immediately after.

It was difficult for the younger boy to come to this decision, but if anything, this time away from Jihyo showed the older boy was fine without their relationship, Dahyun had been hanging on to something that was already gone, he was trying to keep a relationship that was over. These three days with Lisa cemented his decision to let go, he knew the girl fancied him and he had only never given her a chance because of Jihyo, but being treated so well by the girl felt nice, it was good to feel wanted after so long. Jihyo, however, was devastated, sure he knew he hadn't been the best boyfriend ever, but breaking up had never crossed his mind. What happened? Why did Dahyun call him for that? Couldn’t they have talked this over?

Come to think of it, this wasn’t completely unexpected, Jihyo knew he had messed up, everyone else told him he was messing up as it was happening. Hell, his best friends had whooped his as they warned him he was messing up. His own mother tried to talk to him and get into his head that he was losing his boyfriend and nothing worked, Jihyo had been too caught up on himself, he deemed that he didn’t need to keep making much effort towards his relationship. Talk about taking things for granted.

Dahyun had decided to give Lisa a chance, he wasn’t in a relationship anymore, it’s not like the people around him had been that subtle about their support, and this trip was as good time as any to talk to Lisa’s parents, he felt he needed to, at least, inform them of what was happening and his intentions towards their daughter. The opportunity came in the form of a stomach ache, Dahyun didn’t take well to a pho they had for lunch and started throwing up soon after. Lisa’s parents declared they would stay behind with the boy and sent Lisa to guide the others for the afternoon, mr Manoban was firm enough that nobody else argued.

The pale boy had just finished emptying his stomach when he plopped down on the couch, the two adults were watching tv on the other and this would be as good a time as any. So Dahyun got himself up, as well as he could, and waited a bit to see if his stomach would allow this conversation right now. When nothing got worse, the boy decided to speak up.

“Mr and mrs Manoban, I would like to talk to you.” The boy starts weakly.

“Are you sure you are okay be speaking right now?” Mr Manoban worried.

“I wanted to talk to you both alone, and this is as good a time as any.”

“Then we are listening.” Mrs Manoban mutes the tv.

“I know Lisa fancies me, but I’d like to tell you both about myself a little. Maybe that will clear why I’m acting the way I am.”

“Well, she did talk about you a lot, ever since that competition you have been mentioned every now and then.” Mr Manoban offers.

“Well, I’m not sure she told you, but I was in a relationship and I’m not the type to give hope where there is none. But I do consider Lisa a very close friend and I’m very fond of her.” Dahyun stops and groans a little. “Of course, she knew about it, I like to be very honest about my intentions.”

“She told me.” Mrs Manoban sighed. “She was a little down, but she did say you never tried to fool her about that.”

“Well, I’ve been having problems with my boyfriend for a while.”

“So you’re-” Mr Manoban looks surprised.

“Yes and no. I like both boys and girls.” Both adults nod in understanding. “Regardless, I broke up last night, called my boyfriend and told him I was tired. We hadn’t seen or talked to each other in weeks, he had been spending time with other people and I got tired of waiting for him.”

Mrs Manoban hands Dahyun some tea, to help with his stomach and they wait a little for the boy to speak again.

“I couldn’t have looked at Lisa like she wanted me to, I did have a boyfriend after all. But since I told her about this trip, she has been so sweet and attentive that it helped me rethink everything. She showed me how I should be treated and I liked it very much. So, I want to open up to her.”

“And I’m guessing you wanted to talk to us because you can’t guarantee you’ll return her feelings?” Mr Manoban understood immediately.

“Yes, but also, because I just broke up. I can’t promise when or even if Lisa and I will work out, and I wanted you both to know that I’m just not completely ready to just jump into a relationship at all. But I’ll always be honest with her and be the best person I can be to her.”

“That’s all we can ask, really.” Mrs Manoban soothes. “We understand you might not be ready at all to just jump into another relationship, and we can’t demand you return Lisa’s feelings, but if you promise to be honest and treat her well, then we can’t demand anything else.”

“I promise to do my best. And I’m sorry in advance if things don’t work out.”

Mr Manoban laughed at that. “We can’t be mad at you if it doesn’t work. But we’ll be here to support Lisa if things don’t work out, don’t worry.”

“Thanks mr and mrs Manoban.”

“Call us uncle and auntie.” Mr Manoban laughs again.

Dahyun excuses himself to take a nap and the couple go back to their tv show. When the others come back, they bring take out, mr Manoban manages some porridge for Dahyun and the boys go to their room early, Joohyun helping his brother shower and Seungwan helping him get dressed. They tuck in the younger Bae and Seungwan remembers to place a bucket beside his bed just in case. Lisa does go to her room after she is done with the dishes (she was scheduled to take care of them with the sick boy) and the adults talk a little about the conversation between Dahyun and the Manobans.